The Vancouver Elementary School Teachers’ Association endorsed the Vision/COPE trustee slate Tuesday.

Patti Bacchus, Mike Lombardi, Ken Clement, Cherie Payne and Rob Wynen are running for Vision, while Jane Bouey, Allan Wong, Al Blakey and Gwen Giesbrecht are running for COPE.

VESTA asked school board candidates to respond to an eight-point questionnaire before the association decided which candidates to back. Questions included: How will you, as a school trustee, engage in public advocacy for public education? How do you feel about the current structures used by the VSB to seek input from its stakeholder groups? What are your thoughts about large scale standardized tests such as the Foundation Skills Assessment? What is your commitment to helping keep neighbourhood schools open?; and What would you identify as the biggest issues facing education in Vancouver?

Answers are posted on VESTA’s website.

VESTA president Chris Harris told the Courier the decisions about endorsement were made at a general meeting and he believes teachers opted to support the COPE/Vision slate because of their record in Vancouver.

In a press release, Harris stated: “It is important that school trustees are strong advocates for the public education system. COPE and Vision trustees have spoken together with one voice on the need for adequate funding. Every student deserves the supports and resources required to be successful. Teachers see the best chance for a progressive school board in electing COPE and Vision candidates.”

NPA candidates didn’t respond to the union’s questionnaire. VESTA hasn’t endorsed NPA candidates in the past. Louise Boutin, a Green Party of Vancouver trustee candidate, answered the association’s questions, but didn’t get an endorsement. Andrea Reimer, now a Vision Vancouver city councillor, is the only Green candidate ever elected to the school board. Boutin said she’d hoped to get an endorsement from the teachers, but didn’t expect to.

“We’re working towards getting more recognition with them. At this time I’m obviously a new candidate and I expect to win some of them over during the campaign. Their allegiance has been there for a good while so it’s always a challenge to get some changes made,” she said.

“But that’s what the Green Party wants to do. It’s our first run at it in a while. We were joined with COPE and Vision before, so we have to be patient I guess. Like I said, on the campaign trail I will definitely work at winning some of them over because they don’t all vote as one.”

Twenty candidates are vying for the school board’s nine seats in the municipal election. Along with the Vision, COPE and Green candidates, Ken Denike, Sophia Woo, Fraser Ballantyne, Stacy Robertson and Sandy Sharma are running for the NPA. Independent candidates include Lily Harvey, Peter Raymond Haskell, Misha Lauenstein, Bang Nguyen and Robert Allan Stark. The vote is Nov. 19.

noconnor@vancourier.com

Twitter: @Naoibh